Dark Film Review - Chappie

I've written a review of Neill Blomkamp's Sci-Fi robot-based film Chappie over on Amongst Geeks. Click here to have a read and see if it is any good. (It is).

Image Copyright © Columbia Pictures

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Dark Review - I Am Alive

I take a look at Ubisoft's ageing post-apocalyptic survival game I Am Alive over on Amongst Geeks, a refreshing change from the typical shoot first and ask questions later games. Click here to read the review.

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Dark Music Review – It Follows Soundtrack

Written by Casey Douglass

It’s rare for me to watch a film and feel that the soundtrack was something that really demanded attention. That’s not to diminish the role of sound in films, it’s just a way of showing how my mind works. I watched the brilliant horror film It Follows a few days ago (you can read my review on Amongst Geeks here) and was immediately struck by the soundtrack. It was sinister, novel and dark as hell. The musician behind the It Follows soundtrack is Rich Vreeland aka Disasterpeace, a knowledgeable and prolific videogame music creator in the chiptune / 8-bit genres.

I have to hold up my hands and admit that this isn’t a genre of music that I usually listen to, although I can appreciate the work that goes into it. Sounds are designed to sound like (or actually are) played through the retro sound chips of older computers and game consoles, giving them those nostalgia inducing Mario or Metroid type pangs that take you back to your childhood. Judging by his Bandcamp releases at least, It Follows looks like it might be his darkest work of recent times, which is what piqued my interest. While the album isn’t classified as dark ambient, I think it certainly could be.

What you’ll get if you listen to the soundtrack is the mental equivalent of being buffeted at sea. A good number of the tracks alternate quieter booming rumblings and harsh high pitched screeching tones, lulling you and then jarring you moments later. My hands down favourite track has to be Title, partly because the main rhythmic tone arrangement puts me in mind of the famous shower scene music from Psycho. It also has a hook-laden chorus that rattled around my head for at least 24 hours after hearing it.

As with all great albums, there are the lighter, smoother tracks along with the harsh. Jay is one such track, an almost sunlight infused track that is slower and, if not outright tranquil, the sinister undertones are less than other tracks. Detroit is another example of a quieter track, but even though it is less frantic, it still conveys feelings of fear and sadness.

One grandstanding track that features a little of everything is Company. The tone at the start of this track sounds a little like bagpipes being softly abused. It goes quiet and hollow echoing thuds emerge, a high-pitched whining noise grating over the top of them. A deep rumble joins when the whining ends and everything holds its breath. A warped tone sounds over everything again, like a kettle boiling but off kilter and harsh. The deeper distortion behind it sounds a little like horses galloping. The track fades to a kind of ‘electro agitation’ that seems to charge the air, before a quieter tone suggests itself in the silence as it leaves. All goes quiet once more before the quieter tone looms again with a more gentle bass sound. The track ends violently with very harsh sounds distorting and shrieking for the last few seconds. Quite an experience.

Being a soundtrack album, many of the tracks are no more than a couple of minutes long, some less than one minute. This makes sure that no one track or soundscape outstays its welcome and as a listener, this keeps you more alert and interested, even as some of the melody based segments follow the same general scheme.

Even though it appears I’m a pretty easy to please reviewer, partly due to only reviewing stuff that interests me anyway, giving out full marks has only happened a few times over the last few years. The It Follows soundtrack can join the handful of albums that have wormed their way into my mind as I’m giving it 5/5. From a personal perspective, it’s something a little different to what I usually listen to but that still manages to take me to that dark place that I like my more ambient music to take me. The chiptune / 8-bit underpinnings appeal very much to my geeky videogame playing side whilst the drones and bass appeal to my dark world creating fiction side. A complete performance I guess you could say.

If any of what I’ve said has intrigued you, you can check out Disasterpeace’s website here and pick the It Follows soundtrack up for not much money at all. I also urge you to go and see It Follows while its at the cinema, or buy it when it is released for home viewing.

I was given a free copy of the album for review.

 

Album Title: It Follows

Music by: Disasterpeace

Mastered by: Christian Dwiggins

Artwork by: Midnight Marauder

Producers: Richard Glasser, JC Chamboredon & Stefan Karrer

Release date: 10^th March 2015

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Dark Film Review - It Follows

I review creeping horror film It Follows over on Amongst Geeks here. A stunning horror film with likeable characters and a great concept. Read the review for more in-depth analysis.

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Dark Book Review - Mogworld

I take a look at Yahtzee Crowshaw’s Mogworld over on Amongst Geeks, the latest website that I am contributing articles to. Mogworld is a comical fantasy novel that pokes fun at a lot of gaming's tropes and rules. A great read. You can read my review here.

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Three Years On - Progress and Strain

My website is 3 years old today. Much like last year, I will use it as a measuring stick to see how far I’ve come, what I might have achieved and how close to madness I came.

I will start with looking at my hopes of a year ago and seeing if they were met. I laid out some very numbers-based goals for number of posts done, Twitter followers gained and site traffic reached. I met some, failed to reach others, but I find myself not really caring as they miss the point. They are just a metric to measure one aspect of what is going on; they shouldn’t be goals in and of themselves.

The biggest thing for me from a writing perspective was finally going self-employed as a freelance writer. The manner in which it came about was incredibly stressful and my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder damn near killed me in the trying, but months on, I am slowly getting a handle on things. I am also getting paid work which is also very helpful but is taking some getting used to.

Shortly after going freelance, I got my Dark Distractions Anthology onto the Amazon Kindle Store, which was another milestone for me. Of course, this site is no longer called Dark Distractions but I liked the name enough to keep it for my writing. I wanted my site address to be relate-able to my own name, especially if people might see some of my writing and decide to Google me.

I have continued my writing for Geek Syndicate and enjoyed the various things coming my way to review. I am heartened to see G.S go from strength to strength and for Barry and Dave to be rewarded with their BBC iPlayer shows and interviews. I also want to thank the site for giving me something to do when other things have seen my mind whirling away in fear and anxiety; it was a great way to keep writing, which was the most important thing for me.

Another notable event was being invited onto BBC Radio 4’s Digital Human show to talk about how my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder affected my use of technology. It was a great experience and even though not much of my interview was used in the end, I appreciated the opportunity to put into words things that I struggle with on a day to day basis.

One area that has really taken off is the amount of contact I have with writers and musicians who would like me to review their work. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing my dark ambient music album reviews and it is always a great feeling to have music that I enjoy listening to coming to me for a change, rather than having to hunt things out for myself. That probably makes me sound very lazy but I just like to think it’s having a relaxed attitude to entertainment.

My fiction writing has continued in fits and starts, partly due to adjusting to more article and news writing, and partly due to horrendous energy levels and the anxiety it causes me to embark on a larger piece of work. If writing flash fiction and short stories is like gently pootling about in a row-boat just off the beach, writing a novella or novel is like rowing out to sea and losing sight of land for weeks. It’s something I will get on top of but as of yet have not taken steps in that direction.

If the year before last, someone had told me I would have been a freelancer and have a book on the Kindle Store by now, I would have said yes please and taken it gladly. As it is, I’m pleased but it’s hard to feel too cheerful about it. I know intellectually I have done it, but it feels like my heart hasn’t accepted it. I won’t fret about what I’m feeling or not feeling though and will just carry on taking steady steps towards being the writer I would like to be.

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Dark Music Review – September Traveler

Written By Casey Douglass

 

I was very impressed with Sound Awakener's Hidden when I reviewed it awhile ago. Nhung Nguyen has a real knack for using moody strings and harsher sound samples to create compositions that hang in the air like some strange and dark insect swarm, hypnotising and edgy. I was very pleased when Nhung Nguyen asked me to review another of her albums, September Traveler.

September Traveler is a collection of Sound Awakener’s early works in 2011 and 2012 (except "The call is fading"). It is also the soundtrack for Irene Cruz’s exhibition What dreams are made of, which took place in Berlin from 6th to 18th February, 2015. The title September Traveler refers to the journey through moments, total darkness and lost, blurred light. The atmosphere of the music is cold, soft and a little bit dreamy, mostly created by drone elements and field recordings. All sales from this album go directly to support Sound Awakener's recording equipment need. Your purchase is gladly appreciated!

The Tracks:

September Traveler

What sounds like string-based distortion mingles with a high-pitched tone that puts me in mind of fairground music slowed down and played backwards. It sounds like the soundtrack to some strange dream, but a dream that starts darkly and becomes a little lighter and more hopeful towards the end.

Learning to Drown

Looping strains of piano dance and compete with a looming drone in the background. A muted thudding begins in the distance and pulsates below everything as the piano fades and comes back. The result is a track that grows in pace and feels stifling, as if it’s closing around you.

Pale Morning

Chirpy tones tinkle in a light soundscape that feels cold but not hostile in any way. Maybe a morning frost glinting in weak sunlight. Something dark does feel like it is coming closer as the track goes on however.

The shade you’ve become

Muffled voices and distorting electro-sound moves from ear to ear. Harsher piano and string notes add an element of discord as the background sound begins to take on the guise of an angry bee. It rattles and hums as reversed and slowed piano pierces the soundscape, giving movement to the shade mentioned in the track title. The track becomes deeper as it continues, higher pitched sounds echoing back from unseen walls as the other notes mingle in the increasingly harsh medley. Space emerges; strings twang, piano keys sound and thumps punctuate the void left behind.

The call is fading

Stark piano and a swelling and dwindling background sound create a feeling of absence and loss, the notes swallowed by the airy space they float inside. The track ends very abruptly which was a surprise but very effective rather than petering out.

Thoughts

September Traveler has a less chaotic sound than Hidden but one that is no less interesting. Piano is used to great effect, as you would imagine with Nhung Nguyen being a classically trained pianist. I also like her use of strings though, especially the deep and brooding distorted ones she laces her tracks with. All in all, September Traveler is a fine album that deserves a place in any dark ambient aficionado’s music collection and I happily rate it 4/5.

Visit the September Traveler Bandcamp page here for more information.

I was given a free copy of the album to review.

Album Title: September Traveler

Artist: Sound Awakener

Mastered by: Nicky Bendix

Artwork by: Irene Cruz

Released : 6th February 2015

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